Humor and man's superiority to all that befalls him'

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Has the phrase “laughter is the best medicine” ever bothered you just a little bit or seemed a little over-reaching?

I don’t think we’re supposed to take it too literally. It simply indicates that humor can be beneficial. These days, studies show, for example, that laughter reduces stress, strengthens the immune system, relieves pain and even burns calories.

The University of Michigan Health System has a page on its website about “Humor Therapy” written by Healthwise.org. It says, “When you think of humor therapy, picture clowns in the children’s ward of a hospital cheering up sick children. Some hospitals now have humor carts that provide funny materials for people of any age. Many nurses have learned the value of providing a good laugh to those they care for.”

Pastor Joel Osteen told talk show host and comedian Steve Harvey in an interview last year that he read, “A toddler, a young child laughs 300 times a day. The average adult laughs like four times a day. God put it in them.”

We all have this innate, God-given ability to both share and respond to humor. And not only can we use it to help in caring for others, we can also utilize it on our own behalf.

When we’re feeling down, we can tap into this innate sense of joy to consciously look on the bright side, and feel less and less sorrow until the sorrow is completely gone. Then we find ourselves full of joy and our experience is transformed.

The same is true when suffering, and thought is fixated on that – sometimes to the point where the suffering seems like all there is – and we feel mesmerized by it. Humor can help free thought from the fixation. This can bring greater comfort, until we find that health, as well as joy, is normal.

Novelist Romain Gary said, “Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man’s superiority to all that befalls him.” Along with our innate, God-given ability to share and respond to humor comes this superiority – or dominion – and it helps us take charge of how we’re thinking and feeling.

Bob Cummings is a Macomb Daily community blogger and the spokesperson for Christian Science in Michigan,